The discovery of the cell-adhesive properties of the Arg-Gly-Asp
(RGD) sequence located in the tenth type III domain of
fi bronectin triggered widespread use of RGD-functionalized
materials for directing cell behavior. [ 1,2 ] In studies of cell adhesion
and migration, however, cell responses on RGD surfaces
are never identical to those observed on fi bronectin. [ 3 ] For
example, we recently examined the attachment and patterning
of Rat-1 fi broblasts on elastin-based artifi cial extracellular matrix
(aECM) proteins bearing a fi bronectin-derived RGD sequence
and found the average projected area of such cells to be approximately
60% of those spread on fi bronectin.